Pollsters: Tenn. Republicans prefer state exchange

The governor on Monday cited a lack of flexibility for the state along with a dearth of details from the federal government in deciding against creating a state-based exchange. He had long acknowledged that getting the GOP-controlled Legislature to approve it would have been an uphill battle, but denied that political considerations had entered into the decision.

Meanwhile, a pending decision over whether to expand Medicaid was much more evenly divided among poll respondents: 47 percent said they support an expansion, while 46 oppose it. Haslam has said he would decide the Medicaid issue sometime in the spring, though expansion would also face a chilly reception in the Legislature.

Vanderbilt political science professors John Geer and Joshua Clinton, who co-directed the poll, said parts of the survey reflect the difficulty in asking about highly politicized issues. For example, Clinton said nearly 60 percent of poll participants said they did not know enough about PPACA to have an opinion about the law.

"If you asked, 'What do you think about Obamacare?' for example, we would have gotten much different answers," he said. "So how do you ask that question in a non-ideological, nonpartisan way?"

Seventy-three percent agreed with a provision of the health care law that allows children to stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 years old, but only about 40 percent approve covering people with pre-existing conditions. Only 35 percent said they would support raising the eligibility age for Medicare as a way to reduce the federal deficit.

The poll conducted on landlines and cellphones between Nov. 27 and Dec. 9 had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.